catwoman7

I'm not a huge fan of breakfast foods, so I usually eat plain Greek yogurt with fruit. Although there are a people on another site I'm on who eat things like deli turkey slices with cheese for breakfast (or any other thing that's more lunch or dinner fare...)

you're right - i don't think this ever comes up with most people. I have no idea how much was bypassed on me..

I haven't heard that - I've just heard it's not as absorbable as whey protein isolate. I should look that up (although I've never really considered doing that one).

I could walk right away. At four weeks out I was cleared to do pretty much everything but weights. I got the OK on those when I was about eight weeks out.

I forgot to mention (in case you didn't notice by my profile) that I'm 5.5 years out. I've been in maintenance for about four years.

^^^^ this.

I already answered most of this on your other thread, but I can eat anything now except for really high-fat meals. I've never dumped. The statistic that gets thrown around a lot on forums is that about 30% of us dump. I don't know if there's any hardcore medical research behind that number, although I've seen enough non-dumpers on this and other forums that I wouldn't doubt that number. I can eat 1500-1700 calories a day and maintain my weight (I'm 5'6"). I'm active but not a gym rat. That range is going to vary a lot individually, though. Some women can eat 2000 kcal a day - some can only eat 1200. I would say I eat about as much as my never-been-obese women friends who are always watching their weight. If I go to a restaurant, I'll usually order a salad or an appetizer - or else I'll get an entree and bring half of it home (or maybe 2/3 of it if it's really big). That's about what my normie women friends eat. btw - dumping can be controlled by limiting or avoiding sugar (or fat - some people dump on fat). and lastly, yes - I do feel normal (actually more normal now than I did when I was morbidly obese!)

I think shows like "My 600 lb Life" give people some perceptions of WLS that aren't necessarily true. I went through the program with a pretty small group of people - there were maybe eight of us. I was BY FAR the biggest person in there. I would say the others weighed around 250-ish, give or take. In addition, I've co-lead the pre-op classes at my clinic for the last three or so years (that is, until COVID hit). I'd say the average class is around 25 people. Of those, maybe four or five appear to be over 300 lbs. Everyone else is in the 200s somewhere (or looks that way to me). Occasionally they'll get a person who looks like they might be in the low 400s. I've NEVER seen anyone who's the size of the people on "My 600 lb Life". I'm not even sure my clinic's surgeons would operate on someone that size. They probably refer them to a specialist like Dr. Now. But anyway, people at your BMI level do get RNY - esp those with a pre-existing GERD issue.

contact your surgeon just in case.

don't cheat anymore. Just white knuckle it. This is the worst part of the ordeal. If you don't cheat, it does get better by about day 3 or 4, because that's when your body goes into ketosis.

lots of us on here who have been through it - so feel free to ask away!

one thing I learned early on is to not compare myself to others. There are so many things that factor into your rate of weight loss, and several of them you really have no control over. Age, gender, metabolic rate, activity level, starting BMI, whether or not you lost weight prior to surgery, your level of commitment to your program - these all play a role in your rate of weight loss. The only things you really have any control over is how closely you follow your surgeon's eating plan and your activity level. If you do a good job with these, then the weight will come off - whether fast or slow I was a slow loser from the get-go, but I was very committed - rarely strayed from my plan - and lost all of my excess weight. I think in the end, commitment to your plan makes the most difference in your success.

I've never dumped, and no absorption issues. With the exception of iron (some people can't absorb oral iron and have to have occasional infusions - but the vast majority of us do fine on oral iron). anyway, besides the iron, absorption issues are pretty uncommon as long as you keep on top of your vitamins. as for eating, I can eat anything now except for really fatty meals. For example, before surgery, I used to love to go out for Friday night fish fries. These would consist of two or three pieces of breaded, deep-fried fish, French fries, cole slaw with mayo, and a roll with butter. No way could I eat that much fat now. I could maybe have half a fried fish filet. Anything I had with that would have to have little to no fat. Other than that, I have no restrictions - I can eat everything I ate before, just in smaller quantities. As an example of that, before surgery, my husband and I would get a large pizza and each eat half of it. Now I can only eat one or two pieces. I physically cannot eat any more than that at one sitting. But...that's fine. That's about what most of my never-been-obese women friends eat, so... as far as "finality" - a couple of thoughts. RNY is technically reversible, although it's a complicated surgery and is only done if you have a serious medical issue that cannot be resolved another way. Sleeve is not reversible. The other part of your stomach is gone forever. As for revisions, the most straightforward one for sleeve is DS, since at one time the sleeve was the first phase of the DS back when they did the DS in two stages (they discovered a lot of people were able to lose their weight just with stage one, so they started offering that as a standalone surgery a few years back, and it pretty much replaced the lapband back when that went out of vogue). They also do VSG to RNY revisions, but that's mostly when there's an unresolvable GERD issue. RNY usually improves - if not outright cures - GERD (not always - but usually). RNY can be converted to DS, but that's a complicated surgery that only a handful of surgeons do. To do that, they have to reverse the RNY, then do the sleeve, then do the intestinal bypass (stage 2) part of the DS. Although to be honest, most people with RNY don't get revisions. We do see some revisions from VSG to RNY because of GERD, though.

that's the reason I went with bypass. Too many stories about people getting GERD with the sleeve - or people with existing GERD having it get worse. And a few of them ended up revising to bypass. it doesn't happen to everyone. I think I remember reading that it happens to about 30%. But I was not willing to take the risk of ending up one of those 30%. Some people are - and many of them turn out lucky. It's kind of a crap shoot..

as others have said, that rule is for life. But you'll get used to it pretty quickly...

I lost 16 lbs the first month. By the end of the second month I was down 27 lbs, so I wasn't that far ahead of you. And I ended up losing every ounce of my excess weight. Just stick to your plan - the weight will come off, whether fast or slow. In the end it has everything to do with your level of commitment and very little to do with your rate of weight loss. since you have over 100 lbs to lose, you're going to have excess skin - I don't think it makes any difference if you lose the weight slowly or quickly. It's damaged from being overstretched, and it's not going to bounce back. If you were talking 20 or 30 lbs, then yes, maybe - but at 100 or more lbs, probably not. So I'd really just focus on getting the weight off while it's relatively easy. It just gets harder and harder the further out you go. Most of us are able to hide our loose skin in clothes, so no one will know it's there but you - and if it really bothers you, there's always plastic surgery.

I originally thought I wanted/needed a fleur-de-lis (that vertical incision). One surgeon said he'd do it. The other two said I was sort of borderline - they thought they could do it with just the standard horizontal scar. They added that if it turned out I needed the vertical incision, they could do it when I came back for my breast lift and arm lift. I was a little disappointed because I wanted it, but I was OK with waiting, since I knew I'd end up having the second surgery anyway. My traditional LBL turned out fine, though, so I didn't do it. I do have a little excess skin really high up just under my ribs that he wasn't able to get to, but you can't see it if you look at it. It does hang down a little when I'm exercising, though (like doing pushups or something - I can see it if I look down at it through the neck of shirt). However, I can't see it when I'm standing up. Plus I'm always wearing clothes, so... I wasn't sure it was worth the extra money to have him "fix" it, plus then I'd just be trading some mostly unnoticeable skin for a big scar up my middle. Six of one half dozen of the other. If my remaining skin had been really noticeable, though, I probably would have done it.

check with your clinic. I remember being able to have soft fish (like tuna) fairly quickly, but not when I was two weeks out. I think I was more like a month out when I could have that. Don't let the holidays be your excuse to eat - (in fact, I try not to make that an excuse to eat even now, at over five years out). Yes - you'll be really restricted this year, but this won't last forever. The second time around, I was able to enjoy more of what everyone else was eating (just in smaller portions than before). I know it's tough the first time around since you're so restricted (esp the first month or two post-surgery), but just hang tight!!

June of 2015 -- so 5.5 years ago...

I'm pretty sure I was. Just so you know, for some of us, that first one is a doozy - so it might not be a bad idea to start up on the stool softeners!

I'm not a revision, so maybe it's different, but I can handle fat. Not a TON of it - for example, I used to like to go out for Friday night fish fries prior to surgery - 2 or 3 breaded fried filets, French fries, cole slaw with mayo, roll with butter. I could never handle that now. I could maybe eat 1/2 of a fried fish filet, and anything else I ate with it would have to be low in fat. But I CAN eat it as long as I don't overdo it.

I think it took me about a week. There's not much in there..

What time of plastics did you get? Lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift How much did you pay out of pocket? about $40,000 Pain? yes - lots. Especially the lower body lift. Plastic surgery was a LOT more painful for me than my weight loss surgery was (I had very little pain with my WLS) Recovery? it's a long road. The first week I had a lot of pain - after that, for maybe three weeks or so, it was more discomfort. I had to wear binders the first three weeks or so and then compression garments for awhile after that. Was it worth it? yes. I'm glad I did it. I'd do it again, even given the pain and recovery. How long did you have to wait first, I waited two years after I hit my lowest weight to have plastic surgery, but that's kind of long. Some surgeons want you to wait up to a year after you hit goal, so I was well beyond that. As far as how long I waited between my consult and my first surgery (my LBL) - I think it might have been about two months. Ladies- if you got breast implants how big did you go? can't help you here - I always had big boobs and HATED them! I wanted to be a B cup for the first time in my life - and now, I am! (I just did a lift - it was perfect!)

it may be just blood from the surgery that your body is finally getting rid of (and nothing to worry about), but I'd call your surgeon's office and let them know just in case. Better safe than sorry.

I'm sure I was eating more than 400 a day when I was a month out, but I doubt I was at 800 at that point. I know I ate in the 600-800 range most of that first year, but I can't remember when I started that - maybe after about two months? Maybe just go up by 100 or so calories at a time? You'll almost certainly lose weight at 800 kcal (as I said, a lot of us eat that for much of the first year), but going from 400 to 800 practically overnight would be pretty drastic.